Wednesday, September 14, 2005

One Nation Indivisible

U.S. citizen Michael Newdow is my hero. The pledge of allegiance, in its current form, is unconstitutional. I also find it disconcerting that people want to pledge allegiance to a flag, rather than pledge allegiance to the country that the flag represents.

If you don't know the history, the original pledge of allegiance enacted by Congress in 1942 did not include the words, "under god", but was otherwise identical to the current pledge. In 1954, in an anti-Communist fervor, Congress modified the pledge to include the unconstitutional phrase.

Aside from being unconstitutional, the current pledge also makes no sense - if this is one nation and this one nation is indivisible, why would anyone divide it by adding two words? (Don't bother answering, I'm being rhetorical.)

Today, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled in Newdow's favor and has signed (or is expected to sign) a restraining order prohibiting the recitation of the pledge at three school districts in Northern California where Newdow's children live. Unfortunately, this is just the first step in a long court battle as the ruling is appealed again and again until it reaches the Supreme Court.